Statewide human trafficking crackdown nets 510 arrests in California

(KTLA) Officials announced the results of a three-day statewide crackdown on human trafficking crimes and rescue of victims on Tuesday, saying the most recent sting netted 510 arrests.

A total of 56 trafficking victims were also rescued in the operation, which took place last week and was led by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department with the cooperations of 85 other federal, state and local agencies.

The results of the fourth-annual series of raids known as "Operation Reclaim and Rebuild" — which refers to the goal of helping victims of the sex industry to reclaim and rebuild their lives — were presented by L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell during a news conference at the sheriff's headquarters in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.

McDonnell described the sting as a "three-day assault on one of the most heinous crimes of modern times: the sexual exploitation of another human being for profit."

Of the 56 victims rescued, 11 were juveniles, and all were female. Officials said the average age of a juvenile human trafficking victim in California is between 12 and 14 years old, and 70 percent of victims come from the foster care system, but did not provide details on the specific victims rescued this week.

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Statewide human trafficking crackdown 510 arrests

Officials announced they’ve arrested 510 human trafficking suspects made during a three-day sting.

Officials announced they’ve arrested 510 human trafficking suspects made during a three-day sting.

Officials announced they’ve arrested 510 human trafficking suspects made during a three-day sting.

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Officials are working with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking to rehabilitate the victims.

Among the 510 suspected criminals arrested were 30 men suspected of trafficking and 178 "so-called Johns," or men who purchase sex as a service, McDonnell said, along with others suspected of "internet crimes against children" and other unspecified offenses.

"We will never stop coming after you, arresting you, prosecuting you and throwing you in jail," McDonnell said.

The sheriff recounted one arrest conducted Tuesday by the Milpitas Police Department after a man dressed in "full police uniform" and carrying a weapon was allegedly found sexually assaulting a human trafficking victim. The man later determined to already be on felony probation and wanted on suspicion of similar crimes, McDonnell said.

The enforcement spanned several California counties and included Las Vegas — but it was not confined to the streets. Detectives also used the internet to pose and minors and perform stings on those who attempted to pay them for sex or pimp them, according to McDonnell.

In on case, a detective in South L.A. posed as a 16-year-old girl on the internet and was solicited by a 56-year-old man who was arrested after traveling 35 miles to have sex with her. Investigators say he acknowledged that she was allegedly a minor.

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A journalist takes photo of 24 alleged human traffickers' pictures displayed on a board, released by Italian police during a press conference in Palermo on April 20, 2015. AFP PHOTO / MARCELLO PATERNOSTRO (Photo credit should read MARCELLO PATERNOSTRO/AFP/Getty Images)

SHAMLAPUR, BANGLADESH - JULY 4: A photograph of Rohingya trafficking victim Mohammad Aiaz is seen July 4, 2015 in Shamlapur, Bangladesh. On March 5, 2015 Aiaz met a man who promised to take him to a good job in Malaysia for free. He left Bangladesh with 13 other Rohingya. A few days after that his mother, Lila Begum, got a phone call from her son saying he was on the ship and that she needed to pay a man in Teknaf 200,000 taka ($2,570) or he would be killed. She managed to pay 175,000 but she has not heard from her son since. In the past months thousands of Rohingya have landed on the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, many of them by way of Bangladesh. The Rohingya pay up to $2,000 to traffickers, and they sail out from Bangladesh's southern coastline on fishing boats to meet larger ships in the deep sea that will take them to Malaysia. UNHCR estimates that there are more than 300,000 Rohingya living in Bangladesh. (Photo by Shazia Rahman/Getty Images)

An armed Malaysian policeman checks a driver's documentations a day after the government announced the discovery of camps and graves, the first such sites found in Malaysia since a regional human-trafficking crisis erupted earlier this month, near Malaysia-Thailand borders in Wang Kelian on May 25, 2015. A total of 139 grave sites and 28 human-trafficking camps have been found in a remote northern Malaysian border region, the country's top police official told reporters. AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN (Photo credit should read MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Sex workers and sympathizers demonstrate on April 9, 2015 against the closure of window brothels by the municipality in the red light district in Amsterdam. With Project 1012, the Amsterdam wants to close window prostitution to prevent crime, human trafficking and degradation. AFP PHOTO / ANP / ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN - netherlands out - (Photo credit should read ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

Ivanka Trump speaks during a meeting on action to end modern slavery and human trafficking on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Human trafficking suspect Patchuban Angchotipan, a former official in the provincial government of the southern province of Satun, arrives at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, November 10, 2015. Eighty-eight human trafficking suspects arrested as part of a crackdown on Thailand's lucrative smuggling and trafficking syndicates were brought before a Bangkok court on Tuesday to start examination of evidence and witnesses ahead of a trial. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Lieutenant-General Manas Kongpan, a suspected human trafficker, is escorted by officers as he arrives for a hearing at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Timothy Patrick Deegan, who has been charged with human trafficking after being accused of keeping three women as sex slaves in Gainesville, Florida, is seen in an undated photo released by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office in Gainesville, Florida. Deegan, 53, a Florida certified public accountant, remained behind bars on June 12, 2014, on a $300,000 bond following his arrest on June 6, 2014. REUTERS/Alachua County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW HEADSHOT) ATTENTION EDITORS ? THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson talks about sex traffickers in Iowa and Nebraska during a human trafficking seminar, where opponents of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline expressed concerns that "man camps" created during construction of the pipeline might bring the sex trade to their area in O'Neill, Nebraska, U.S. April 12, 2017. Picture taken April 12, 2017. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom

Japanese national Susumu Fukui (2nd R) is escorted by Cambodian police to the Phnom Penh municipal court in Phnom Penh on February 7, 2017.
Fukui, a Japanese restaurant owner accused of overseeing a smuggling ring that forced women into sex work in Japan, was charged with trafficking in Cambodia on February 7, along with his wife and an employee. / AFP / TANG CHHIN Sothy (Photo credit should read TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images)

TANGERANG, INDONESIA - AUGUST 16: Suspects of human trafficking arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on August 16, 2016 in Tangerang, Indonesia.
9 Suspects while smuggling 16 people from the sea port promontory hall, North Sumatra province to Malaysia got raided and arrested by police. An estimated 6 million Indonesian laborers (70% of whom are female) work abroad. Many Indonesian workers who have migrated to the Middle East and Asia have been subjected to exploitation. According to the 2013 US Trafficking In Persons Report, Indonesia is a major source country for women, children, and men who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.'
PHOTOGRAPH BY Jefta Images / Barcroft Images
London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com
New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com
New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.comA (Photo credit should read Jefta Images / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

TANGERANG, INDONESIA - AUGUST 16: Suspects of human trafficking arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on August 16, 2016 in Tangerang, Indonesia.
9 Suspects while smuggling 16 people from the sea port promontory hall, North Sumatra province to Malaysia got raided and arrested by police. An estimated 6 million Indonesian laborers (70% of whom are female) work abroad. Many Indonesian workers who have migrated to the Middle East and Asia have been subjected to exploitation. According to the 2013 US Trafficking In Persons Report, Indonesia is a major source country for women, children, and men who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.'
PHOTOGRAPH BY Jefta Images / Barcroft Images
London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com
New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com
New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.comA (Photo credit should read Jefta Images / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

MEWAT, INDIA - MARCH 13: Ghausia Khan a bride trafficking survivor, is a member of the district legal aid authority, Mewat is showing the images of enlisted Paros on March 13, 2014 in Mewat, India. Khan a worker with Empower People, an NGO which deals with trafficking cases and helps women in distress to find lawyers and provides them with legal information and at times, monetary assistance. Trafficked brides are locally known as Paro or Molki (means one who has a price). These are pejorative labels in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh where the skewed sex ratio and entrenched feudalism has resulted in a flourishing trade in women trafficked from the poverty-ridden villages of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The women, who are usually promised marriage, find themselves in places like Mewat where the go-betweens sell them sometimes repeatedly to men who cannot find local women. Cut off from their native states, they are often confined and forced to work as bonded labour or pushed into forced marriages or prostitution. (Photo by Subrata Biswas/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

MEWAT, INDIA - MARCH 13: Ghausia Khan a bride trafficking survivor, is a member of the district legal aid authority, Mewat is showing the images of enlisted Paros on March 13, 2014 in Mewat, India. Khan a worker with Empower People, an NGO which deals with trafficking cases and helps women in distress to find lawyers and provides them with legal information and at times, monetary assistance. Trafficked brides are locally known as Paro or Molki (means one who has a price). These are pejorative labels in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh where the skewed sex ratio and entrenched feudalism has resulted in a flourishing trade in women trafficked from the poverty-ridden villages of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The women, who are usually promised marriage, find themselves in places like Mewat where the go-betweens sell them sometimes repeatedly to men who cannot find local women. Cut off from their native states, they are often confined and forced to work as bonded labour or pushed into forced marriages or prostitution. (Photo by Subrata Biswas/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

A court order is seen hanging with red wax on the main door of the closed Oragon/Sideway club which was used by sex traffickers as a brothel in the area of Zouk Mkayel, north of Beirut on April, 14, 2016.
Lebanese security forces busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. / AFP / JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

A general view shows the three-story Chez Maurice Hotel, which was used by sex traffickers as a brothel, in the Maameltein district of the coastal town of Jounieh, north of Beirut on April, 14, 2016.
Lebanese security forces busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. / AFP / JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

A Syrian sex trafficking victim is seen making coffee in the kitchen of her safehouse at an undisclosed location in Lebanon on April 13, 2016, after she fled a brothel in Lebanon where she was being held captive.
Lebanese security forces busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. / AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 13: FBI officials announced that 20 underage victims were recovered and 7 pimps arrested in Colorado and Wyoming as part of a national Operation Cross CountryIX. At the Denver FBI headquarters on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler (second from left) cranes around to see the video display of sex traffickers and their recent sentences. Left to right: Dawn Weber Second Judicial District Chief Deputy District Attorney in charge of Cold Case Unit & Human Trafficking Unit Brauchler , and 18th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Cara Morlan. (Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty Images )

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McDonnell also discussed a new initiative he hopes will "disrupt the demand side" of the market by using bots to communicate with suspected online predators.

The department places decoy ads that connect those soliciting sex to a bot programmed to converse with them. In three days, the bots exchanged over 3,100 text messages with 200 men seeking to purchase sex, McDonnell said.

"The conversations were concluded with the admonishment that their activity was illegal, exploitive and no longer completely anonymous," McDonnell said. "The disruption technique is specifically designed to let the buyer beware that law enforcement is aware of their actions and educate them about the consequences of those actions."

L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey also spoke at the news conference, saying her office is working to secure lengthy sentences for sexually exploitative crimes.

Last year, there were 200 human trafficking cases filed by the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, and some resulted in life sentences for traffickers. "That would not have happened five years ago," Lacey said.

McDonnell explained that sex work has become more lucrative than the drug trade since sex as a service can be sold repeatedly and the internet makes the crimes relatively low risk.

Since the "Operation Reclaim and Rebuild" raids began in November 2015, more than 221 victims have been rescued, among than 157 children. Another 948 people have been arrested: 274 on suspicion of buying sex, 375 on suspicion of trafficking-related offenses, 146 for internet crimes against children and the rest for miscellaneous other crimes, according to McDonnell.